This is the oldest church building still standing in London. Its story takes us back to the reign of Henry I (1100–35), son of William the Conqueror. In the court there was a wit and minstrel named Rayer or Rahere, who early in Henry’s reign made a pilgrimage to Rome. On this trip he became gravely ill with malaria and, while delirious with fever, saw a vision of St Bartholomew. The saint commanded him to found a church in his name at a certain place outside the walls of London. Rahere miraculously recovered, and upon his return he petitioned the king to give him the piece of land, Smithfield, to establish a hospital and priory. In his petition Rahere also asked permission to hold an annual fair in honour of St Bartholomew. Henry granted both requests.
Rahere built the hospital on the east side nearest the city walls and the priory on the north, work probably commencing on both projects in 1103. Using his talents as jester, he pretended to be half-witted and persuaded children and idlers to fill in with stones the swamp that covered most of the area. He claimed to have witnessed several miracles attributed to his patron saint, which brought widespread fame to the priory. The annual St Bartholomew’s Fair was immensely popular and brought much revenue to the two institutions. By the time of his death both the hospital and priory were flourishing. In the fifteenth century he was honoured with a handsome tomb and effigy on the north side of the chancel, which has been beautifully restored and remains to this day.
In 1244 the priory was visited by Boniface, archbishop of Canterbury. This man, uncle of the queen, was a political appointee who had been imported from France by King Henry III and was not even ordained. He made slighting remarks to the canons of St Bartholomew’s and was told by the sub-prior that they, having a learned bishop, did not need his visit. The archbishop, with an oath, tore off the sub-prior’s rich cope and shoved him violently against a pillar. The canons then forcefully threw off the archbishop and in turn were beaten by his armed retainers. This nearly touched off a riot. In the words of John Stow, ‘the whole city was in an uproar, and ready to have rung the common bell, and to have hewn the archbishop into small pieces’, had he not hid himself at Lambeth.
In the later Middle Ages St Bartholomew the Great was one of London’s richest and most influential priories. A significant part of its wealth was due, as earlier suggested, to the yearly St Bartholomew’s Fair, where clothiers and drapers had ‘booths and standings within the churchyard of the priory, closed in with walls, and gates locked every night’. In the year 1410, during the reign of Henry IV, the priory was rebuilt. The garden became famous for its mulberry trees, and it was the custom for schoolmasters to bring their scholars here to hold logical controversies in public under these trees. Records indicate that early miracle plays were often performed at Smithfield near St Bartholomew’s. In 1409 the parish clerks played Matter from the Creation of the World for eight consecutive weeks. In the first part of the sixteenth century a famous prior named Bolton made extensive repairs and built an oriel window on the south side of the chancel, so he could watch mass being celebrated without leaving his lodgings. When the dissolution of monasteries was ordered by Henry VIII the last prior, named Fuller, turned St Bartholomew’s over to the crown on 25 October 1539.
The chancel was retained as a parish church (by petition of the residents, after falling into the hands of the infamous Richard Rich), but the nave was destroyed. In time much of the property became ruinous and, despite a couple of attempts at restorations in the eighteenth century, the various parts of the building not used for church purposes were turned to commercial uses. For a time there was a print shop in the Lady Chapel, and Benjamin Franklin is known to have worked here. The beginning of the fine restoration to be seen now occurred in the late nineteenth century under Sir Aston Webb. When visiting St Bart’s see the delightful halftimbered gatehouse over the west gate, the churchyard where the old nave once stood, the original choir and chancel bounded by great Norman pillars and arches, the rebuilt Lady Chapel, the remains of the old transepts and cloister. Take note of the effigy of the founder over his tomb and Prior Bolton’s oriel window on the south side of the chancel. A guidebook to the church and a list of the many films made on site is available in the little bookshop.